[Reader-list] queer,lover,poet,saint & martyr of Delhi's history

[inder salim]

Proposed performance at the coming Queer Festival organized by Nigah


READING HAZRAT SUFI SARMAD SHAEED
FROM  RS. 20/- BOOKLET SOLD AT THE
VERY PLACE WHERE HE WAS BHEADED BY AURANGEZB,

< for some images please
visit http://indersalim.livejournal.com>
.

Hazrat Sarmad saheed :
eye and a light of a Jewish family from city Armina in Iran
"what is truth ?"  immersed him in the Arabic of those times.
So, Islam was the free air to inhale.
But to utter thoughts, he used his mother tongue: Persian.

By profession: a trader. Hindustan of Mughals attracted him
And as Karachi of those days was quite friendly to traders,
He obviously relished his sojourns.

Literary gatherings of Karachi warmed his soul in traders guise.
Not surprising that why he decided to make Hindustan his home;
many others those days liked it that way.

It was during this time that he saw the magic: A young poet, Abhay
Chan at a Mushaira,
reciting his verses, mixing his grace with the style of reading a ghazal,
which ravished him to no end.. .

Sarmad sahib lost his heart. Abhey chand too reciprocated  his advances.
Few more days, and the fire of love engulfed them both completely.
They began to live together.

Almost akin to our  times, this too went against the grain of those times,
and at the behest of Abhay Chand's guardian, the  official Mirza Mohd Beg Bakshi
managed to keep him away from Sarmad Sahib.
The sudden disappearance of Abhey chand devastated him.
Meanwhile Mirza beg conveyed him to forget about the boy and get some
lavish gifts
instead to which Sarmad sahib responded by a couplet in Persian.

A rough translation:  " I am Quite conscious about your offical duty,
but I am in Love and no material gains can distract me".

For a while Love succeeded and they once again started to live together.
A true reason for Sarmad sahib to dance because his love ( abhey chand )
was reciting his own verses.

People lapped it all but circumstances forced him to leave Karachi and
move to Lahore
where he lived for 11 long years. Love had changed all, and it is at
this point that he
began to  abandoned his garments.In love, and therefore, barriers between colour
ephemeral and eternal were collapsing quite rapdily.

And with such a state of mind...from Hydrabad to Agra and finally to Delhi;
all without a garment to cover his body. Khajwa Syed Abu Qasim Sabaz wari
( Hazrat Haray baray  )  blessed him in Delhi. Fame was inevitable.
A sufi Prince like  Dara Shikou was a natural disciple.
A meet with King Shahjahan resolved nothing about his debate of nudity
in public space.
King was inwardly convinced about the grace and power of his being and
allowed him to be the way
he wanted to be, and no wonder why he (King Shahjahan)  preferred Dara
to stay back
in Delhi after the great divide of Hindustan into four of his sons.
Aurangzeb's disdain for this Hindu-Muslim blending by Dara and
implicityly rejected his father's decision.
It was just a matter of time before Aurangzeb succeeded to capture Delhi,
resulting in the murder of his brothers and life imprisonment to his
father in Agra.

The letter
Dara Shikou to Sarmad

My dear Peer sahib, every day I yearn to be blessed by you, but it
does not happen.
And if I am me then why I am unable to realize my desire. What is my fault ?
And if the murder of Hussain was the will of God then why we blame the Yazids.
And if God had not granted such a will then what is the meaning of
this that whatever happens,
happens by the will of God alone. Even Prophet Mohammad had to face defeat
in the battle grounds, and why then Islamic scholars interpret it as
the hidden will of God.
 But people like me don't want any explanation from any body. I simply
want to be but  then why?

The letter ( reply )
>From Sarmad to Dara

My dear Friend
We forgot whatever we read or learnt except the name of our love which
we utter endlessly.

During one of these days when wax and rose like Sarmad sahib was busy
making toy-homes in clay,
the princess,  Zaib-ul-Nisa visited him and even bought  one of his creations
in exchange of a little tobacco which Sarmad sahib quickly inscribed
on the toy-in-clay.

The same night King Aurangzeb saw a dream that he was denied entry
into a house which
belonged to Zaib-ul-Nisa. The mystery deepened when he knew that
princess had actually
bought one toy-house created by Sarmad Sahib.

The paranoid King finally acted and went out to meet Sarmad sahib.
He was all nude and did not care about the king. Aurangzeb stopped and
told him that
he should be careful with his garments because people go the mosque to
offer prayers.
A blanket is next to you, why don't you cover your body. Sarmad sahib
replied humbly
" please put it on me "  The King stretched his hand,
and the moment he lifted the blanket he saw bleeding heads of various
people underneath.
Some heads were of his own nephews and friends. Then Sarmad Sahib
looked up into his eyes
and told him that now tell me should I hide your bad deeds or my body ?


The Kings heart turned, and thought him as his friend in disguise.
This was the time that he performed many miracles.
This was the time that he would utter only the first word of Kalima "
LA ILL LA ".
This was the time that his reputation also  grew as  some one who challenged
the holy verses of Quran.

Sarmad Sahib argued that he would utter the complete verse if he
happens to see God.
But till then, let it be so.

As the reputation goes, King Aurangzeb was fundamentally against the
Sufi ways of living,
so it was matter of time before the  coterie around him succeeded to
brand Sarmad Sahib as
kafir( infidel).  This was the time for Sarmad to become a martyr, and
he himself felt the
need for a dignified exit.  He was beheaded at the same spot where his
shrine exists today.
It is believed that the bleeding head uttered the complete verse : La
ill la ill lal la.
Mohamadan rasool al law.  It is believed that he lifted his head from
the ground and began
to walk towards the Masjid,  and at that time his peer Hazrat Sayad
Haray Baray Shah sound
 echoed in the air which stopped him. The sound reminded him that he
should not do what he
 resisted all along his life. Sarmad Sahib stopped and a  eternal calm
prevailed.

Some of his famous verses roughly translated by Guwhar Fazili and me:

Umr  eest  ki aawaaza-e mansoor-e  kuhan shud/ an az sar-e tu jalwaa-e
deham dar-o-rasan ra /
My life is a reminder of Mansoor of the olden (times) / I see his
face, and I desire to die now.

Shorey shud o az khoab-e adm kashoodeim/ Deedeim ki baqi ast shab-e
fitna-e ghunoodeim!
A noise pulled me out of the sleep of death / Yet the night of sadness
seemed to persist

Hum matee-e farmaanam, hum kashish-e rahbaanu/ Rabbi hu daanam...
kafir na Musalmaanum
I observe commandments and i am drawn to sufis (rahbaan: travellers
who have abandoned settled life)
 I know my creator... I am not a Kafir...  or a  Muslim!

All those who are in love, are in pain,/ Thus a bee can enter the
heart of a butterfuly/
Thus one can achieve the thing which one aspires/ Thus one can cherish
the golden thoughts of Sarmad.

Sarmad, you have a name in the world/ This happened when you
understood Islam through things alien to Islam.
What was so unauthentic about Allah or Mohammad, That you turned your
head towards Ram and Laxman.


Sarmad, if it contains my will, it will come towards me,/ your search
is an exercise in futility/
 Just sit, and if there is God, he himself will visit you.

Oh my God, I confess, that I am a weak,/ I am ashamed of my self for
my deeds/ I am just a small entity/
And I am not proud of myself.

( … might have later in the period influenced Ghalib even,
 Yeh tera masailay tasawuf , yeh tera bayan ghalib, tujay hum wali samajtay,
 jo na bada khwar hota )